Sunday, January 22, 2012

Braids Part 2

Whilst I am waiting for my bobbles to dry, I have cut a channel along the top of Valentine's neck. This is a personal preference of mine. I believe it gives the Apoxie something to grab, and makes a nicer and more realistic merge from mane to neck.

I have then marked the places for the bobbles. Remember to leave room for your bridle trail.

Firstly, because they are rough from the cuts made by the scalpel, I sand their bottoms on an emery board. It does not take much, just a couple of passes for each one. Once each bobble sits flat, I superglue/baking soda each one onto the neck.

I like to leave the horse overnight at this point. Baking soda and superglue make an almighty mess which all needs to be cleaned up and sanded off, and it is best to let the mix set as hard as possible before fiddling around and popping them off in all directions.

Next I roll out another sausage, roughly the length of the neck, and maybe 3 mill' thick. I then flatten this sausage and place it along the channel in the neck.

Like so...

﻿

It does not have to be pretty.

I then make a cut with anything that is handy to make each segment.

Now it is simply a matter pinching in the sides to make a triangle and folding each segment down towards each bobble. I had way to much Apoxie and had to trim each segment as I went along.

I thought I had a photo of this part but I seem to have imagined it :)

The end result.

Don't forget that a braid has 3 sides. Offside, nearside and top. Keep checking that your mane looks realistic from all 3.

I will leave this to dry before putting on the forelock braid. I am very good at squishing work I have already done.

A tip; If you find you have made up more Apoxie then you need, put the excess away in the freezer while you work. This will slow it's cure, and give you more time to get back to it.